General Articles: Year-Round Home Schooling
The school year begins and instead of feeling tired or dreading the upcoming school session, both teachers and students are rested and ready to work hard the entire time till the next break. How is this done? - Year-round schooling. With the school in session for shorter amounts of time with more frequent breaks teachers and students can now look forward to their experience at school without it seeming long and repetitive. A year round school schedule helps students excel as well as helps teachers teach.
Students are successful in a year-round homeschooling environment. It is a laborious task for teachers to prepare for a review from three months prior (Carroll). The regular school schedule usually spends the greater part of the first grading quarter on reviewing from the previous year(4). With a year-round school schedule, this type of extensive review is unneeded. The fact alone that less time is needed to be spent on review leaves more time for homeschooled students to be learning new curriculum. Only one or two days are needed for review when year-round students come back from intersession (Chaika). Since less time is needed for review, homeschooled students will retain more information with the continual practice in new studies.
With shorter homeschool sessions, students can focus on school the entire time instead of loosing focus due to long, extended sessions in homeschool. The year-round schedule typically consists of 60 days of school and then 20 days of break/intersession (Carroll). The "year-round" name is a misnomer. Students are actually in school the same amount of time as the regular schedule students are, except the year-round student's school days are more spread out throughout the year (Chaika). The year-round schedule actually promotes higher attendance (Harp), and increases retention and achievement (Chaika). Molly Carroll, in her article, "Year-round Home Schooling Can Cure Much of What Ails Us" says,"(The regular school schedule) makes absolutely no sense academically or fiscally and actually wastes time".
Homeschooled students won't have to wait till summer school to catch up with their peers on a year-round school schedule. Catch up work can be done more quickly with a year-round schedule because it can be done during intersession (Carroll). Making up work during intersession is more effective because students aren't wasting any time and wont fall further and further behind their classmates waiting for summer school. Making up work in a more timely matter is now more important than ever with recent learning standards being inforced (Carroll). Intersession programs can also be used for enrichment during the school year. With enrichment activities and courses offered, student can be prepared for following years and college more than ever(Carroll).
Year-round homeschooling also helps teachers teach more effectively. Teachers, as well as students, get burnt out with the long sessions of school that come with a regular schedule. With the usuall year-round schedule, 60 days of instruction and 20 days of break (Carroll), teachers tend to have higher attendance (Harp). Teachers can go full force with their teaching with out any fear of burnout knowing the break is soon to come (Harp). With the year-round schedule, teachers are willing to teach the entire time while students are willing to work hard and learn the entire time as well.
The year-round schedule allows teachers to make mid-year adjustments and work with other teachers. With intersessions approximately every 60 days, teachers are given the chance to change any teaching strategies to something that may be more effective. Year-round schools devote more staff effort directly to classroom teaching strategies (Carroll). As a result, teachers offer better instruction to their students. The year-round schedule also allows more time for staff development (Carroll). The school devotes more time directly to classroom teaching (Carroll). This all results in a more innovative curriculum and teaching strategy (Harp).
Teachers and students returning from intersession return refreshed and ready to work hard. Knowing that they are only 60 days approximately from their next lengthy vacation, teachers and student have the motivation to work hard and get through the curriculum. Because of the unique schedule of the year-round schools, students don't even have the time to forget what they learn. Teachers, too, can benefit from the year-round system by having more time and flexibility to adjust their teachings. While some doubt the claim that the year-round schedule improves the quality of work in students, Mr.Ballinger responds best in Harp's article, "Advocates of Year-Round Schooling Shift Focus to Educational Benefits":
'Even in the very worst reports, there's no one anywhere who has shown that year-round education hurts kids, so I say with confidence your students will do as well as or better than they've been doing,' (Mr.Ballinger) said in an interview. 'Even if you only makes modest gains each year for 12 years, you have a significant gain in the end, and sometimes people, including researchers, forget that.'
Overall, the year-round homeschooling school schedule profits everyone.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.